Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fond of declaring that “the Jews have no roots in Palestine” (meaning Israel) a sentiment expressed by individuals since the nation’s rebirth in 1948, and a puzzlement explained best by Mark Twain, who once sagely observed that “a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes.”It’s a lie repeated by a lot of people who should know better. Like Mahatma Gandhi, who said, “Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French."And students for Justice in Palestine, who held discussions during Palestinian solidarity week about, “settler colonialism, ethnic cleansing, and racist policies as a form of systematic discrimination.”And a Lebanese game show that features contestants vying to conquer a virtual Jerusalem.And Israel’s Arab neighbors, who specialize in propaganda like Saudi riyal bills showing the Dome of the Rock and the Al-aqsa Mosque that it contains, and murals in Tehran that feature the Ayatollah reigning there. And the Ayatollah himself, who has said, “Jerusalem is the property of the Muslims and must return to them.”Modern Islam claims Jerusalem as their third most holy city, largely on the basis that the dome of the rock is the site of Abraham’s offering of Isaac and, more importantly, the site from which Mohammed ascended into heaven.(That last part isn’t actually in the Quran, however.) What is in the Quran is a verse Surah 17.1, that says, “Glorified be he who carried his servant by night from the inviolable place of worship to the most distant place of worship.”According to Islamic scholars, the inviolable place of worship is Mecca. No argument from anybody there.Interpretation of the “far distant place of worship” however has varied. Modern Islamic interpretation, as well as their claims to Jerusalem, is based on the interpretation that the “far distant place of worship” was the temple mount in Jerusalem.But there’s a reason it is the current interpretation. And the reason that the current interpretation of “the most distant place of worship” is the temple mount in Jerusalem is because that interpretation was thought up in the 1920s by Haj Amin el-Husseini (Yassar Arafat’s uncle.)It was thought up as a way to stir up anger (among the few Arabs then living in Palestine) against any return of its native inhabitants, the Jews.It was a total lie, in other words, albeit one that has been enthusiastically adopted by all Arab leaders in the region since. Like King Faud of Saudi Arabia, who called Jerusalem “the holy city that belongs to all Muslims across the World."Modern Islamic politics bases its spurious claim to Israel based not only on Mohammed’s alleged ascent to heaven from the dome of the rock, but on two other baseless claims as well:1) Islam has always been under Muslim sovereignty, and2) Jerusalem has no historical significance to Jews.The claim to ancient Muslim sovereignty is based on the fact that Abraham, David, Solomon and even Jesus are also revered as prophets in Islam.As Islamic expert and journalist Daniel Pipes put it, “In other words, the central figures of Judaism and Christianity were actually proto-Muslims”.Based on this claim, the average Muslim believes that Jerusalem was Arab from the day it was founded. And Muslim “scholars”, incredibly, claim that the Al-Aqsa mosque which now stands on the dome of the rock predates the Jewish sites by thousands of years. Bottom line? The importance of Jerusalem as a holy site to Israel’s Muslim neighbors, viewed widely by them as historically valid, is actually a relatively recent swindle.Starting with the Dome of the Rock. For a place where, supposedly, their supreme prophet Mohammed ascended to heaven, Jerusalem as the alleged locale is mysteriously absent from the Quran, which mentions only the dubious “far distance place of worship” (Al Aqsa)And within the Dome of the Rock, on whose walls are inscribed hundreds of verses, the verse that is now used to claim it as an important Islamic Holy Site. Sura 17:1 is conspicuously missing from the site it purports to claim.In fact, claimed now as their third most holy city, Jerusalem is conspicuously absent from Islam in general. It is not mentioned in any Muslim prayers, or in any other ancient Islamic writings.(That is, except the dubious “furthest place of worship” interpretation). During the nearly 2000 years that Israel was out of the land, no Muslim leader is recorded of ever making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.Jerusalem, coincidentally (or maybe not) appears in the Quaran at the exact same frequency in the Hernando, Mississippi newspaper (my hometown rag, a whopping four pages daily) as it does in the Quaran. Meaning never. Nada. Zip.The name of Jerusalem appears nowhere in the Quaran.It does, however, appear more than 1000 times in the Bible.God, in the Torah, names Jerusalem as the one city on which He lavishes His blessing and protection. (Psalm 132:13-14)God names Jerusalem as the only city for which we are commanded to pray. (Psalm 122:6)God specifically says that Jerusalem is the place where his name dwells forever. (II Chron. 6:6, Psalm 46, 48, 87)And last but not least, God says that there will still be a Jerusalem (a new Jerusalem) in heaven.No Mecca, No Medina, No Cairo. Not even Paris or New York.As Dave Hunt observed, “that speaks volumes”.But still (as abundantly evident from ongoing antics at the UN), most of the world believes the lie that Israel stole the land from the Arabs.Should we be surprised? Not really. God tells us that Satan is the source of all lies.“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44 NKJVSatan is the enemy of truth. And if Satan is the enemy of God, then he is the enemy of Israel. Daniel Pearl, a journalist who specialized in Israeli-Arab conflict, was a voice of truth in the area.Till Muslim terrorists killed him. . So for now, the lies go on.But lies can’t alter truth. They just drown it out temporarily. And eventually the light of truth will shine into the darkest of places. The truth will come.I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6He will save his people.And there will be consequences to those who made themselves the enemies of the Lord’s beloved:Woe to the multitude of many people Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, And to the rushing of nations That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind. Then behold, at eventide, trouble! And before the morning, he is no more. This is the portion of those who plunder us, And the lot of those who rob us. Isaiah 17:12-14 And God keeps His promises.“Remember these, O Jacob, And Israel, for you are My servant; I have formed you, you are My servant; O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me! I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.” Isaiah 44:21-22Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, a former Muslim mayor of Jerusalem, admitted that the Jews, historically, had inalienable rights to the land: “Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine?”, Khalidi said. “Good Lord, historically it is really your country."

But that was in 1899. Before Yassar Arafat and his uncle and the demonic lie.God promises that in earth’s final days, that,“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem." Zech 12:12Israel’s land area amounts to a mere 8,630 square miles. (Arab land area exceeds 5,5000,000 square miles.)Israel is home to a mere 13, 000,000 Jews. (Their Arab enemies number more than 1.4 billion)Israel has sought peace for the 55 years they have been in existence, agreeing to a bipartate split 7 times.(Islam insists on war. They can’t be happy until Israel doesn’t exist.)Drunkeness is a perfect metaphor: the nations (led by Islam) are inebriated with Satan’s hatred for God’s chosen people. There’s no other rational explanation.But God will not wait forever to defend them:Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it.In that day I will make the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place. Zechariah 12:2-3,6Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel. God keeps His promises.